Sound

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UK - Florence and the Machine have completed a string of UK dates with a Midas PRO6 at front of house, operated by sound engineer Ian Laughton and provided by Britannia Row Productions.

Laughton's previous experience of Midas digital systems was using an XL8 for The Verve, and he was delighted to take the PRO6 out. "I thought this little baby would so suit Florence; her show is very musical, with lots of dynamics, and this makes it sound exactly how you want her to sound," he says.

Laughton had several days of rehearsals at Elstree Studios to get used to the PRO6, and his XL8 training came back to him as soon as he walked up to it. "I'm using it just like I did the XL8, and it's great to be back using features like the POP(ulation) Groups," he says. "It just gets better and better to use; it's so intuitive, and you're not limited by anything."

F

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UK - Liverpool UK based sound and lighting rental company Adlib continues a busy Spring-into-Summer supplying full technical production and crew for the recent LCD Soundsystem UK and European tour.

Adlib has worked with the band's FOH sound engineer Steve Revitte before, most recently on Hot Chip, and he was instrumental in getting them back onboard for LCD along with tour manager Mark Duston.

Adlib supplied a complete monitor system and consoles for the entire tour, which picked up racks-and-stacks throughout Europe. In the UK, they supplied a full PA for the larger venues and then, when possible, hooked into those with good house speaker systems like the Academies. Richy Nicholson was the Adlib systems engineer for the full tour, joined by Otto Kroymann for the UK leg.

The FOH console was a DigiDesign Venue. The monitor console was a DigiDesign profile, spec'd by monitor e

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Indonesia - L-Acoustics' Indonesian representative Tri Tunggal Abadi has installed a complete new sound reinforcement system into the Nafiri Convention Hall in Jakarta. The system consists of a left/centre/right hang of six Kiva ultra compact line source cabinets and two Kilo low frequency extensions each, with four SB28 subs. LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers power the system.

The 1,600-capacity hall is used to host three church services every Sunday, as well as special events such as weddings and other large gatherings.

According to the hall's sound engineer Lody, the system is the best he has ever heard, delivering clear and very detailed sound even when it's being driven at very high levels.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - With just over one week to go before the 2010 PLASA AGM & Members Lunch, the organisation is asking all its Business Members to make sure they cast their vote on the proposed merger with North American trade association, ESTA.

The PLASA AGM & Members Lunch, which takes place this year at Kings Place, London on Wednesday 2 June, is always an enjoyable event and an excellent networking opportunity for the Association's members. However, this year's meeting will mark a significant step for the organisation as Members are urged to vote in favour of the proposed merger with ESTA. ESTA's own members received ballot papers on 30 April, along with a strong recommendation to vote in favour of the merger.

There are still places left at the AGM so Members can register at the address below. Alternatively, if members are unable to attend the day itself, there is an opportunity to cast

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USA / UK - Peavey has announced the formation of its new Commercial Audio Division. A new management structure has been put in place to run the organisation which is headed up by MD Clive Roberts based in Corby, UK and Peavey Commercial Audio general manager, Kevin Ivey, based out of Peavey HQ in Meridian, MS.

The Commercial Audio Division has been set up specifically to handle the established brands of MediaMatrix, Crest Audio and Architectural Acoustics. The aim is to create an identifiable and integrated group of pro audio brands with its own dedicated support staff and a clear roadmap for the future. The new structure will offer clearly laid-out channels of communication both up and down the chain, including marketing communication, so that distributors and customers can easily obtain the information they require in a timely fashion.

The new organisation was presented to E

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Live at The White House - Sir Paul McCartney will perform at the White House next week as he picks up an award from President Barack Obama. The former Beatle will play as part of a concert in his honour when he is presented with the third annual Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Other performers in Tuesday's concert in the East Room include the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris and Faith Hill and Elvis Costello. Paul Simon won the inaugural prize followed by Wonder last year. The award is given by the Library of Congress.

On Broadway - The musical Memphis has picked up four honours at the Drama Desk Awards in New York, voted for by journalists and theatre critics. The new musical, set in dance clubs in 1950s Memphis, won best musical, orchestration and music. Its leading lady Montego Glover tied with Catherine Zeta Jones for the outstand

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UK - For the ninth year running Hawthorns have been contracted to supply Walk the Walk's MoonWalk and SunWalk power walk challenges in aid of breast cancer charities.

Hawthorn were also involved in Walk the Walk's new challenge this year, the Celebrity SunWalk in Southampton, created to celebrate the naming and launch of the new Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship.

For the two MoonWalks involving nearly 30,000 'MoonWalkers', Hawthorns provided lighting, sound, staging, rigging, power distribution and for the first year Video which was installed into De Boer's massive 'pink palace', a 150m x 60m Galaxy structure.

Three artics of lighting, sound, rigging, power distro, video and site services made their way to Hyde Park for the main structure and ancillary marquees, including six main generators and over 10 miles of cable to supply the marquees, 300 toilets and

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UK - Orbital Sound continues to expand its exclusive audio sales lines, announcing the addition of Da-Cappo Micro Microphones. Orbital has been appointed as Da-Cappo's exclusive UK distributor with immediate effect, and will be showcasing the range, including the DA-12 single-ear microphone and the DA-04 lapel microphone, at this year's ABTT Show (16-17 June).

The European-designed Da-Cappo capsule is the result of extensive research in the field of precision-hearing instrumentation, measuring a discrete 2.5mm in diameter and combining market-leading performance with a flat frequency response, exceptional EMI protection and unparalleled resilience against sweat and water, says the company. Da-Cappo's latest product release - the DA-15 single-ear microphone with an in-ear monitor piece - was singled out at the 2009 AES, winning the Award for Innovation.

Da-Cappo's claim to have

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UK/USA - Following the recent addition of a formatting utility in BlackBox Recorder, UK manufacturer JoeCo has carried out a series of tests on selected disk drives to evaluate their effectiveness in live performance situations. With reliability high on the agenda for the 24-channel live multi-track recorder manufacturer, Glyph Technologies' new GT 062E drive has gained top marks, accompanying the BBR to both NAMM 2010 and the Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Glyph's GT 062E is a professional-grade storage solution designed for audio and video editing, content creation and live recording. It has two hard drives inside, and can be configured in several different drive modes, selectable using the Glyph Manager software utility.

Peter Glanville, director of marketing at Glyph Technologies comments, "The BlackBox Recorder packs huge recording power into a small package, and requires fas

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USA - At InfoComm 2010, live demonstrations of Meyer Sound's new MIna line array loudspeaker will showcase the system's impact and fidelity despite weighing merely 47 lbs. The Constellation acoustic system will also be featured.

In the Meyer Sound demo room at InfoComm, Mina will be heard with its low-frequency complement 500-HP subwoofer. The JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker and 700-HP subwoofer will also be featured in the demos.

Meyer Sound will also showcase the CAL column array loudspeaker, an expanding range of low-voltage installation solutions, the Acheron Studio screen channel loudspeaker and HMS-10 cinema surround loudspeaker, along with the D-Mitri digital audio platform, which will also be shown at the AVnu Alliance Pavilion.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - SADiE recently sponsored In The Dark's high profile events at the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF), which took place in early May.

In The Dark is an organisation dedicated to celebrating and enriching the culture of radio documentary in the UK. Through workshops and live 'listening' events that bring together producers from around the world it aims to encourage a thriving community where radio can be easily accessed, enjoyed and discussed.

This year, In The Dark hosted a number of events in association with LIDF. These allowed audiences to close their eyes and open their ears to a world of aural story telling. Running alongside LIDF's programme of films and photography, it asked how story-telling through sound continues to enrich documentary culture as a whole.

All events were guest-chaired by independent producer Alan Hall (Falling Tree

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UK - The Lyttleton Theatre of London's National Theatre is one of the UK's most prolific hotbeds of stage creativity, which means its technical team has to cope with changing between very different productions on an almost nightly basis. With a DiGiCo SD7 recently installed in the South Bank premises, life is now a little easier.

"We have a connection with DiGiCo because we often use a D1 console for outdoor productions in our Theatre Square venue," says Lyttleton Theatre sound manager Yvonne Gilbert.

"So we had prior knowledge of the user interface, which helped our choice. But the truth is we looked at a lot of digital consoles and none seemed to do the job we wanted as well as the SD7.

"We're a rep house, we have a different show each night and they are extremely varied. We needed a console that would give us a wide range of possibilities, from mixing

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USA - In outfitting San Diego's Old Globe Theatre for Duncan Sheik's musical Whisper House, the sound design team of Dan Moses Schreier and associate designer David Bullard - who designed the audio for the current Broadway hits Westside Story, A Little Night Music and Sondheim On Sondheim - drew on years of combined experience to select the optimal equipment for every scenario of the complex audio production.

With an on-stage orchestra, a cappella vocal performances, large-group sequences and loud, complicated battle scenes transitioning throughout the entire play, they needed a verstile audio system and ultimately selected AKG's DMS 700 wireless microphone system and JBL VRX loudspeakers.

AKG DMS 700 digital wireless microphone systems were outfitted with a variety of AKG handheld mics, such as the C5 condenser, D5 dynamic, D7 dynamic handheld. The most i

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UK - The fast growing Sweet Potato Restaurant & Leisure Ventures Group has extended its latest restaurant concept - Kitchen Italia - by opening a second site close to Covent Garden's trendy Seven Dials.

With its big sharing wooden benches the lively fast-service basement atmosphere is brought to life by a background music system, installed by the Sound Division Group and featuring white Martin Audio architectural AQ loudspeakers, alternating along the vaulted ceiling, down the length of the room.

With its prime location next to the Donmar Theatre, and well-known in its previous guise as the Bunker Bar, Kitchen Italia specialises in fresh, homemade pastas and char grill pizzas.

The Sound Division Group has a long history with the operator, having carried out various installation phases at the leisure group's original venture, Hush in Mayfair, as well as the Villandry restaura

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UK - The BBC has equipped its two newest outside broadcast vehicles with Focal CMS50 active monitors. The two vehicles form part of a BBC Radio OB fleet that became fully operational this spring and will ultimately replace the oldest vehicles in the existing fleet.

The CMS50 is a two-way, bi-amped, nearfield monitor featuring a 5" mid-woofer and it is the middle size in the CMS (Compact Monitoring System) range, which also comprises the CMS65 and the new CMS40.

Garry Robson, of UK Focal distributor, SCV Electronics, said, "We presented the Focal CMS range for approval during late 2009 and were delighted when we heard that the CMS50 had been chosen over the usual suspects. One of our dealers, HHB, received the BBC order in early 2010."

(Jim Evans)

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Singapore - Long-term Midas users, the Singapore-based Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC), have purchased their second PRO6 digital audio system this year.

FCBC, which attracts a congregation of up to 10,000 at its weekly services, has installed the second PRO6, purchased from Midas' Singaporean distributor Quad Pro, into its 1,500-capacity Touchcentre place of worship. The first PRO6 is already in fulltime use at the Touch Community Theatre.

FCBC's senior audio engineer, Philip Nadesan says, "The PRO6 retains the warmth of analogue boards yet adds a crisp 'sparkle' at the high end. The learning curve from analogue to digital board was surprisingly fast and smooth with the PRO6. The onboard EQ was a breeze to use and functioned like an analogue board. More impressively, there are four-mode compressors at the input channel and side chain functions.

"An unexpected

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UK - HHB Communications has supplied two RSS M-400 digital consoles, with RSS S-1608 Digital Snakes and stageboxes, for installation in an Outside Broadcast Vehicle newly acquired and fitted out by SECMedia, the AV arm of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Ahead of the Church's biggest annual get-together at Camp Meeting in Wales, SECMedia has refurbished an OBV built by Sony Broadcast, once part of the Grampians TV fleet. Equipped with a new 48-channel M-400 digital console plus configurable digital snake solution, the truck will handle a packed schedule, recording and mixing for internet broadcast six programmes a day throughout the six-day event.

The South England Conference is the umbrella organisation that enfolds all the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the south of the country. Stefan Stanciu, leader of the 15-man AV and IT team, was the fir

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Greece - The Nuevo Trova is one of the latest additions to the vibrant night life in Athens. Housed in a neoclassical building in the centre of the Greek capital, the new bar/club is the work of Greek actress Katerina Papoutsaki and her brother John Papoutsakis. Their aim was to create a stylish and elegant environment for the people of arts to enjoy (although not exclusively) and also to provide a stage to express various forms of art, such as concerts with bands from all genres, theatrical groups and entertainers, stand-up comedy and high quality music playback.

The building had to undergo major internal surgery in order to meet the demands of a modern space whilst retaining the aesthetics and the feel of such an ancient structure. The sound was therefore a very important issue, hence the reason they turned to audio specialists and Peavey distributor, DNA Systems.

According

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Greece - Meyer Sound has announced Philippos Nakas as the company's new distributor, providing technical support, product servicing, and coordination of educational programmes for the Greek professional audio market.

The publicly listed Philippos Nakas has been supplying musical instruments and professional audio equipment in Greece since 1937. Today, the Athens company distributes for manufacturers including Robw lighting, Sennheiser, Klotz, and Neumann, in addition to Meyer Sound.

"We have been looking for a big name in loudspeakers for a long time now, and are very excited to add Meyer Sound to our offerings," says Konstantinos Nakas, managing director of Philippos Nakas. "The current economic state is driving a wave of new sound rental companies to the market and these companies are demanding quality equipment like Meyer Sound."

Philippos Nakas has es

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UK - Over the weekend of 21-23 May, The O2 in London hosted its first fully staged opera-a larger-than-life rendition of Bizet's vibrant and passionate Carmen. To convey both the power and subtlety of Bizet's music throughout the 18,000-capacity arena, Autograph Sound Recording provided a massive Meyer Sound reinforcement system.

To cover The O2's main seating bowl, the production relied on left-right arrays of 16 MIlo and two Milo 120 line array loudspeakers each for the orchestral system, with 90 Mica line array loudspeakers dedicated to performers' voices. A total of 60 UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers serve as front-fill to cover the front rows and provide correct imaging of the performers.

"It's a fascinating project," says Autograph's Duncan Bell. "Starting with many theatre-based techniques and using 32 channels of radio and then applying them to a scale

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UK - When Peter Gabriel decided to promote his latest album Scratch My Back via select live shows with a 54-piece orchestra, an immediate concern was how the Front of House mix position would accommodate the exacting audio requirements. The answer was a DiGiCo SD7, with enough inputs to make Gabriel's New Blood tour both a reality and a major success.

Manned by Richard Sharratt, the DiGiCo SD7 was supplied, along with the rest of the audio rig, by Britannia Row. After rehearsals in Shepperton and a Paris warm-up gig, the tour took in dates at Paris Bercy, the Berlin O2, London O2 Arena, Montreal Bell Centre, New York Radio City Music Hall and finally LA's Hollywood Bowl.

With 10 first violins, 10 second violins, eight violas, eight cellos and four basses comprising the string section alone, the channel count was inevitably high.

"All the strings had Schoep

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UK - Orbital Sound reports two recently completed installations with an ecclesiastical overtone.

The Emmanuel Centre, part of Westminster's Emmanuel Evangelical Church, commissioned Orbital to install a new d&b audiotechnik Q-Series loudspeaker system for one of its mainstream conference rooms, used regularly by political parties and large corporates.

At St George's Cathedral, Southwark, Orbital was brought in by the cathedral architect Jonathan Louth Architects to install a new Tannoy D-i5 system as part of a refurbishment programme of the Archbishop Amigo Jubilee Hall, in a joint project with CAFOD. In both cases, Orbital Sound was responsible for the system supply, installation and commissioning.

Located within a Grade 2 listed building, the conference centre at the Emmanuel Evangelical Church comprises the principal Auditorium that seats 1000, plus two smaller rooms with

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UK - DiGiCo is the latest company to confirm its presence at PLASA 2010, taking place at Earls Court in London from the 12-15 September 2010. DiGiCo is joining a strong line up of pro-audio companies already committed to the show this September.

DiGiCo managing director James Gordon commented: "Before booking a stand at PLASA 2010 we had to evaluate our heavy commitments to PL&S and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Through the process it just became clear PLASA is such an important date in our calendar and DiGiCo just has to be there in 2010."

DiGiCo can be found on stand 1-E4, at the front of Earl's Court 1 among a host of other pro-audio brands such as Allen & Heath, HK Audio, Equipson and Roland.

Also joining a long string of pro-audio brands that have committed to PLASA in recent weeks is KV2 Audio: having moved stands from its 2009 location, KV2 Audio can now be fo

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USA - Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge (featured as 'One of America's Most Innovative Churches' in Outreach magazine) has recently moved into its new worship facility, the HPC Arena (www.healingplacechurch.com). To serve the 3,000-seat Sanctuary, SIA Acoustics, responsible for sound system and acoustical design, selected Outline products to reliably reproduce the word and music of the church's worship leaders, as well as numerous visiting groups.

The main sound system is comprised of 42 C.D.H. 483 Butterfly loudspeakers, divided into three arrays (two of 13 elements and one of 16) to cover the floor seating area, with 10 Subtech 218 SP's for low-frequency reproduction and 11 Micra II SP loudspeakers for front-fill.

The raised seating area is served by six delay arrays, each composed of six Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. elements and two C.D.L. 1815 cardioid 'Low Packs', connected

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